C. M. Wenyon 
295 
enormous numbers of Culex come forth daily. The Stegomyia breeds 
very readily in the cleaner wells and also in the “ hubs ” which are filled 
daily with water carried from the river in skins. If left for more than a 
week without being emptied and cleaned, the hubs become the source of 
numbers of Culex and Stegomyia. During the hot weather the develop¬ 
ment is very rapid, and one week is almost sufficient for the complete 
development of the mosquito from the egg. During the very dry and 
hot season the mosquitoes rest during the day upon the moist outer 
surfaces of these hubs, the temperature of which is considerably below 
that of the surrounding objects. In the summer the air is very dry, 
and though a good deal of irrigation of gardens takes place, the water 
carried up each day from the river has dried up and evaporated 
before night, so that there is little chance of mosquitoes breeding in 
standing pools. In the town, by cleaning out the hubs regularly, 
covering over used or old disused wells, and by attending to the 
cesspools, it would be possible to rid the town of most of its 
mosquitoes. It is true that the river Tigris runs through the town. 
During the summer months the climatic conditions resemble very much 
those of Khartoum on the Blue Nile, and there under very similar con¬ 
ditions, Dr Balfour has found it possible to exterminate the mosquito. 
Of course, it would be impossible to carry out such anti-mosquito 
measures in an old town like Bagdad, for much of it is in a very insani¬ 
tary condition, and the carelessness of the Eastern native would be a 
constant obstacle. Khartoum is a comparatively new town in which 
inspection and enforcement of regulations are not a very difficult matter. 
But Bagdad is an old town with narrow crowded streets, and many small 
and dirty houses in which the poorer part of the population are crowded 
together in conditions far from sanitary. To enforce regulations among 
these people is almost impossible. However, it would be possible to 
educate the more enlightened part of the population, and this at any 
rate would have the effect of diminishing the mosquitoes in the town, 
and thus one of the possible agents of transmission of the soi'e. As 
a matter of fact, during my stay in Bagdad the newly appointed pro¬ 
gressive Wali moved in this direction by causing many old and disused 
wells to be filled in and completely covered over and by building a dyke 
across the bend of the river on which Bagdad stands in order to prevent 
the flooding of the desert around the town when the Tigris overflows its 
banks. 
Dissection of mosquitoes, as caught in and about the houses was 
constantly carried on. On no occasion was a flagellate found in these 
